The Genetic Predisposition to Become a Werewolf
by Stars Are Ideas
Summary: "Why is Forks so green? There are trees everywhere. I found a leaf in my underwear drawer this morning." After reluctantly moving to Forks with her father, Ellody is determined to finish school and go back to her home in Seattle. But then a half naked Native American guy knocks her down in the middle of the night, and things start to get a whole lot more complicated. SethxOC
1. You're Not In Kansas Any More

**Chapter One**

**You're Not in Kansas Any More  
**

I couldn't sleep.

I had been tossing and turning for what seemed like hours. A glance at my phone revealed that it had in actual fact been hours; it was three am. I rolled onto my back again, my eyes fixing on that one dirty spot on my new bedroom ceiling that I had been staring at for too long. I made a mental note for what must have been the tenth time to get up there and clean it off in the morning.

We had just moved into the little house. In fact, we had just moved into this little town too. Forks, it was called. What kind of name was Forks, even?

But it was tiny. We had driven here, away from our comfortable and central apartment in Seattle. I thought it was a damn shame. I was at the age when things were just beginning to happen for me. In fact, on my last trip to the mall with my friends, I'd even been asked out by a boy for the first time. I was mortified when I had to bumble about and tell him that I was moving the next day.

"Ugh," I groaned and threw my duvet off of me. The air was cold, which didn't seem right considering it was just the beginning of September. We hadn't had time to get the heating up and running before we'd gone to bed but I planned on making that an issue in the morning too.

I rooted around the floor for a moment before finding my overnight bag which had a pair of sweat pants and hoodie in it. I pulled the garments on, and then picked up my phone, my new house key, and my shoes before tiptoeing out of my room and heading for the front door.

From the limited research I had done; the crime rate in Forks was practically non-existent. The only reason the little town even had its own police department was to curb the trend of under-aged drinking, doling out fines for minor traffic violations, and oh yes, hunting wolves. I had to admit that I had been mildly shocked when googling the small Olympic peninsula town of Forks to find that they had had a bout of wolf related killings a couple of years back. Hiking seemed to be big thing around here, and during the period of time in question, several hikers and been savagely killed by wolves. There was ever reports of a Native American girl being attacked by a bear by the side of the road.

But there hadn't been any reports of animal attacks in a while. This was why I felt that it was more or less safe for me to leave the house at three o'clock in the morning on my own and without a can of pepper spray. I never would have considered such a thing in Seattle. Not on my own, anyway.

The air outside was ever colder. Another thing about Forks which I was not looking forward to: the greenery. Everything in the town seemed to have its own share of forest. Our own backyard, for example, was bordered by a dense tree line which led to an ever denser forest. There seemed to be an endless amount of trees. Enough even for the town of Forks to single handedly turn the tides on global warming.

As I walked along the non-existent side walk of the road, letting the moon guide me – apparently Forks didn't believe in street lights – I pulled out my phone and quickly tapped out a message to Lissa, my best friend back in Seattle: _You still awake? Call me._

Usually, I would have considered social norms a barrier to my text messaging anyone at three o'clock in the morning unless it were an emergency, but I knew Lissa and I knew that it was very likely that she was still awake.

After only a few moments of walking on, my phone began to vibrate furiously. A quick glance at the screen had me smiling – a picture of Lissa pulling a funny face flashed when she called me – as I answered.

"Whaddup', yo?" I spoke into the phone.

"Not much. I was just getting ready to annihilate some noobs on_ League of Legends. _How's East Jesus Nowhere?" I could hear Lissa's fingers moving over the keys on her computer as she spoke to me. She had always been brilliant at multi-tasking. I wasn't even sure if I was able to walk and chew gum at the same time. For that reason, I had come to a stop on the side of the road, right next to yet another tree-line.

"It's... cold. And wet. I've just come outside and it's the first time since we got here that it's not been pissing it down."

"Well, Seattle isn't exactly dry either, Ell," Lissa reminded me. Of course she was right. I knew that I was just determined to be negative about everything that had to do with this move. I also knew that my negative attitude was really starting to get on both my dad's and my sister's nerves'.

"I know... It's just..." I didn't really know what to say. There was a lump in my throat and I bit my lip. "I just can't believe that we sold the apartment to come and live in this shit-hole."

"I know, Ell," Lissa said softly from the end of the line.

Lissa understood what I meant. I had lived in that apartment since I was just a kid. It's where Hazel and I had lived with our mother after the divorce. It was where Hazel and I had grieved the death of our mother. And now it didn't belong to us any more. Now we were going to live in this new house like she never existed at all. All of her clothes and all of her things – except the very few things that we kept – were gone. There were going to be no surprises when we peeled back the wallpaper in this new house and found cartoon drawings of our family on an adventure. There was nothing of her here in Forks.

"I can't believe my dad did this to us."

I heard Lissa yawn. "Ellody, he didn't do this _to _you. In fact, he probably thinks he's done this _for _you."

"Blah. Why do you have to be so... _reasonable?_" I asked my best friend, chuckling. "I don't think I like this new side of you."

Lissa laughed and the leaves of the tree beside me rustled. "You know, it's just going to be you and your dad in that house when Hazel comes back to Seattle. You should probably just try and get on with him. You two are usually so close."

"I know. I wish Hazel was taking me with her. I mean, I almost eighteen, it's not like I need to- Holy _shit!" _In the middle of my rant about independence and my ability to look after myself, I was nearly knocked over by something shooting out of the tree-line.

I stumbled and managed to right myself quickly. My eyes darted up to see that I had practically been attacked by a very large and very half naked Native American man who had come sprinting from the forest. I stood there for a moment, petrified as our eyes locked. I held the man's gaze for a second or two. He looked like he was in a kind of daze. He opened his mouth like he was about to say something...

And then I screamed. Screamed in a big way; top of my lungs, blood curdling scream of pure fear. I didn't wait any longer before spinning around and darting away, hoping I was heading in the right direction to lead me home. I hadn't been expecting that! This was Forks, for crying out loud. I don't think there had ever been a rape or sexual assault case on record, but I'd only been here for less than a day and already I'd be bowled over by a half naked man at the side of the road.

I didn't scream any more. I was focussing all my energy on getting home. I wasn't the fittest person as it was, but I was determined that wasn't going to stop me from getting away from that creep.

I almost cried when I reached the front porch of my house. A glance behind me, revealed that there was nobody following. Though it was dark, and it wouldn't have been hard to hide. I unlocked the door quickly and entered my new house, promising myself I would never bash it again. It was providing me with a much needed sanctuary.

Once I was inside the house, I was faced with the decision of whether to wake up my dad and my sister to tell them of what had happened to me – it didn't escape me that this could have possibly been a situation dreadful enough to convince my father that moving back to Seattle would be a necessary step to ensure my continued safety – or to let it go for now.

I stood there, with my back to the front door for what must have been a full three minuted before I was snapped out of my reverie by my phone vibrating again. I almost jumped out of my skin. However, it was only Lissa calling me again and I quickly answered it, moving into the kitchen. I made sure to lock the front door behind me.

"Hello?"

"Ellody! Oh my God! What just happened? Do you any idea how scared I just was? I mean, one minute we're just talking away and then you _scream_! And I'm talking proper, '_I'm getting attacked by wolves' _screaming, not, _'Oh my God, look at these cute shoes' _screaming too. What. The. Fuck?"

"I'm okay... I think," I told my friend in whisper. "I was out for a little walk-"

"At three o'clock in the morning? Are you insane?"

"Let me finish. Because I couldn't sleep. The crime rate here is non-existent. I thought it would be perfectly safe. And I was. At first. I was just hanging around a bit and then this half naked guy came running out of the woods and almost knocked me on my ass! Lissa, I was so scared. I thought I was going to get raped and killed and murdered and left in the woods and all those bad things."

"In that order?"

"Shut up."

"Where are you now?"

"At the house! I ran away." I found myself standing next to the kitchen windows, attempting to peer out without being seen.

"Go tell your dad, Ellody!" Lissa urged me. "Seriously, that's some scary shit."

"_No!_ I'm not going to wake him up right now and tell him I went out for a walk. He'll flip his shit. And the chances are that he won't decide that this warrants us moving back home, and I'll just end up being grounded for like, a year!"

"... Ugh. I'm all worried about you now."

"Me too. I should go back to bed now. And get under my covers and pretend that I'm back in the apartment."

"Do that. Do you want me to sing you to sleep, baby?"

"I'm hanging up now."

Lissa snickered. "'Kay. Night. _Be safe._ And take your _Mace _with you the next time you decided to take a little promenade in the middle of the night, idiot."

I hung up and headed up the stairs to my room, my shoulders hunched and my breath ragged. What a brilliant start.

* * *

**Author's Note**

So, here we go again. The wonderful (or perhaps not-so-wonderful) start of a new story. I'm really psyched about this one, actually. I feel like it's going somewhere. The possibilities are endless, of course!

Anyway, please have the heart to review, guys.

Yours, Jenny

xxx


	2. Of Yellow and Blue Paint

**Chapter Two**

**Of Yellow and Blue Paint**

It was only a few hours later that I crawled out of bed for the second time that morning. My dad had always been a firm believer in early rising, and he barged into my new bedroom at half past seven in the morning.

"Up and at 'em, Honey!" he practically yelled at me, throwing a cuddly toy at me.

I groaned and snuggled down further under my covers, unwilling to be roused so early. I hadn't been able to get much sleep at all. After I'd hung up on Lissa and crawled back into my cold bed, I'd tossed and turned some more before finally giving myself a mental punch and focussing on counting the little sheep walking past a wall in my mind.

"I know you're tired, Ellody, but we've got work to do." He pulled at the end of my duvet, pulling it away from me and off my bed, exposing me to the cold air in my room.

"Ugh," I groaned again, forcing my eyes to open. I blinked a couple of times, adjusting to the light in my room. "It's cold."

My dad smiled at me, and rubbed a hand over his thinning grey hair. "I know, Honey. It's on the agenda for today." He pulled a piece of crumbled paper out of the pocket of his jeans and waved it at me. My father was a paediatrician and was a great advocate of cleanliness being next to Godliness. He couldn't stand to be disorganised. I knew that that piece of paper would have written on it a list of things my dad was planning on getting done today, and that they would be coded in some fashion to tell him which things needed doing more urgently and so on.

I groaned again, but this time swung my legs over the side of my new bed. I stuck my tongue out at my dad and raised my hands in surrender. "All right, I'm up."

Dad smiled triumphantly before leaving the room. I looked around me. I had to admit that the room was pretty cool; it was bigger than the bedroom I'd had back in Seattle. The walls were painted an ugly pale cream colour, and I knew that I wasn't going to rest until my dad consented to let me decorate my new room according to my own tastes. The room wasn't living up to its potential as it was, and it was still cluttered with boxes of my belongings, and bin-liners full of clothes. The coolest thing though, was the window. There was a large window that could be opened, and I'd noticed before going to bed last night that there was a sort of mini balcony out there. If I were so inclined, I would be able to crawl out onto the mini balcony and soak up any sunshine that Forks might be enduring.

I pulled myself off of my bed and began rifling through the black sacks, looking for my overalls. They were an old blue denim pair, spattered with paint and faded with holes in the knees. They'd belonged to my mother, and I couldn't bear to give them up despite their raggedy appearance.

Once I found them, I pulled them on over a long sleeved t-shirt which professed my love the _Sims. _In the bathroom – there was only one bathroom in this house – I brushed my teeth and smoothed down my dyed red hair in the mirror. I regretted having had bangs cut across my forehead. I had been talked into it by my friends. They had been right, the bangs did suit my face quite well, but they were a nightmare to maintain. I managed to fashion a sort of braid across the front of my head in order to keep my hair out of my eyes.

I examined myself in the mirror briefly. There were large purple bags under my almond shaped green eyes. My dad wouldn't have appreciated me forgoing helping him with the unpacking in order to find my make-up box though, so I just rubbed a little cold water on the skin. My skin was pale and my eyebrows looked a little bushy – I hadn't plucked them in a while due to the havoc Lissa had wreaked on my face when she had convinced me to let her style my eyebrows, and I'd ended up having to draw them on for over a month. All in all, though, I was pleased to say that I still looked like me, despite this place. A part of me was afraid that I was going to turn into a country bumpkin type person now that I lived in the proper place for such people.

Hazel and my dad were already in the kitchen preparing breakfast when I made it downstairs. My dad was frying various breakfast meat product in a pan, and my sister was mixing up a bowl of pancake batter. I didn't bother to ask where the food had come from; knowing my dad, he had probably had this breakfast planned since he had accepted his job in Forks hospital, and had organised that we would have all the correct utensils and foodstuffs in order to have a good hearty breakfast before our day of hard work.

"Oh, you're actually up," Hazel said, surprised when she saw me. "I thought dad was lying to me." She grinned over her shoulder at my dad.

I made a face at me to tell her just how funny I thought she was. Which was not funny at all. I dragged one of our bar stools over from where they were sitting by the door, and ripped off the bits of packaging that were still attached to it. I seated myself at the counter so that I could talk to my family.

"How did you sleep, Honey?" my dad asked me.

I bit my lip. He would definitely flip his shit if I actually told him what had gone one during the night when he was sleeping self and sound in his new room upstairs. But, would it be irresponsible of me not to tell him? Perhaps my assailant was a no-gooder who was going to do some other girl harm? Some other girl who wasn't fast enough at running or something.

Perhaps I was going a little overboard with this? I mean, it wasn't like he had actually attacked me. In fact, he had looked as surprised as me.

"Not too well," I told him instead. Which was true, but there was no need for the specifics at this point in time. "So, what's my list of tasks for today?"

My dad raised on arm and pointed over to the wall. Oh, he had been a busy man this morning. He had already fixed up our notice board to the wall in the kitchen. There were three pieces of paper on the board; one with each of our names at the top. I hopped off of my stool and grabbed mine.

_'1) Unpack bedroom completely_

_2) Clean and unpack bathroom_

_3) Go to hardware store (see attached list)'_

The list went on like that for almost the entire page, and there were three separate little pages attached to the main page. I briefly wondered when my dad had had time to compile these flawlessly organised lists for all of us. I didn't ask, knowing that I would only get another lecture about how organisation was the key to success in life.

I often thought about my mother when he said this. She hadn't been an organised woman. She had been messy and unpredictable and she loved to be spontaneous. I could never understand how a man so... straight-laced as my father was could have ever managed to fall for a woman like my mother. Being organised and prepared in all things was my dad's main aim in life, and my mother would have laughed in his face. Of course, they did eventually get divorced, but there were together for sixteen years before they had finally had enough of one another and decided to call it quits.

"What time are you leaving tomorrow, Hazel?" my dad asked.

My sister had been reluctant to accompany us down to our new home in the first place. It was almost a four hour drive from Seattle to Forks and she had been unhappy with the idea of having to make the journey twice in one weekend. My dad had managed to persuade her though. She was attending Washington University with major of international relations and a minor in French. She was in her third year, and after Christmas she was going to go to Europe to intern at the United Nations for a couple of months.

"I'm not sure," Hazel replied. She began pouring some of the batter into a skillet. "Probably late afternoon. I don't want to leave it too late. I want to get settled and everything."

"I thought your classes didn't start for like, two weeks," I mentioned. The first week in September seemed a little early to me.

Hazel nodded. "I volunteered to help with the orientation for freshmen." Ah, my typical sister. She always did everything like that. In high school, she had been the president of the student council, and the head of about fifteen different extra-curricular clubs. She was a sucker for brownie points.

I regarded my sister for a moment. Of the two of us, she was the one who more closely resembled our mother. She had the same dark brown curls our mother had had, whereas my natural colour was a light, mousy brown. She had also shared those big blue eyes with my mother. She ever wore the same sort of glasses that our mother had worn. Our mom had joked that she could have opted for contacts, but the glasses made her look like she knew was she was talking about sometimes. I was sure that my sister kept the glasses as a sort of tribute to our mother, too. Her build was also similar to our mom's; she was tall with an athletic physique. She had never really been one for sports, but I envied her shape.

Me, I resembled my father the most and had been struggling with my weight since I had hit puberty. I wasn't massively overweight, but I was in the category of what some people would describe as 'pleasantly plump'. I was also shorter than my sister was and my mother had been. My dad was perhaps a little short for a male, but he was the same height as my sister. I reached about five foot four.

"Scram time," my dad announced. He had managed to set up our small kitchen table and three chairs around it, and we all sat down to eat.

We ate mostly in silence. Hazel chattered a little bit about her course syllabus this coming semester, and asked me whether I was nervous about starting a new school or not. I shrugged and told her than I hadn't really given it much thought.

In truth, I was nervous. I had lived in the same apartment all my life up until now, and had been going to the same schools as my friends since kindergarten. My mother had been good friends with Lissa's mother and they'd sent us together to elementary school, then middle school and then high school. We'd never had to worry about friends or anything like that, because we'd always had each other. I wondered if there was such a thing a soul-mate of the friendship type. Because, I was sure Lissa and I had that. We had the sort of relationship where we were completely different in so many ways but just... _clicked. _We very rarely fought, and we always both felt so guilty afterwards that we'd end up just apologising to each other and laughing at ourselves.

I'd never had to worry about making new friends before.

"Lissa wants to come and visit once we're settled in," I told my dad as we cleared away the dishes after breakfast.

Dad pursed his lips. "You know that Lissa is welcome in our home any time. But I'd really rather you didn't have her come and stay during school time. Why don't you wait until the Fall break?"

I stared at my dad, raising my eyebrows. "So what you're saying is, Lissa is welcome in our home any time, as long as it's not just any old time? And the Fall break is almost two months away!"

My dad gave me a dirty look. "I just think you should focus on your studies right now. This year is a very important year for you."

"I realise that, Dad," I muttered, my voice straining. "It's not like I'm going to have Lissa stay over for_ one _weekend and I'm suddenly going to derail my education."

"I'll think about it."

I grumbled and shuffled off to start working my way through my personalised agenda. That was as good as a no from my dad.

* * *

My dad consented to letting me buy some paint at the hardware store to paint my room. I was sure he felt guilty for snubbing my request to have Lissa visit in the near future. As he should have. Lissa was my best friend and she had practically been a part of the family for years.

I took Hazel's car to go to the hardware store. I didn't have my own. My dad had said that he didn't see the point in my having one in Seattle when I was still living under his roof, and the public transport system was so good. I wondered if that would change now that we were living in this tiny town. The nearest place that had a Wal-Mart and a movie theatre was a slightly larger town named Port Angeles which was an hour's drive away. As great as my father was, I doubted that he was going to be down for driving me to Port Angeles every time I wanted to catch the latest release.

The hardware store – amusingly titled _Nailing It –_ wasn't hard to find. Forks was constructed of a small central town which held most services like the stores, the single diner, a bar and the filling station. They were all clustered around a small road off the highway. I passed both the hospital where my dad would soon be beginning work, and the school where I would soon be attending on my way to the hardware store. Even though the population of Forks lingered around three thousand mark, the town was quite spread out. There didn't seem to be any residential areas or streets or any such nonsense. People seemed to just have their patch of land, and in a town where everybody seemed to know everybody else, I didn't suppose you really needed to be able to say that you lived on a certain street in a certain number house.

Forks also wasn't big on organised parking, it seemed. Cars were parked mostly on the side of the streets, with no discernible parking spaces or markings. I ever got stuck behind an old red truck as it stopped in the middle of the lane and the driver leaned out of his window to talk to the driver of the car that was parked next to him on the side of the street.

I didn't use my horn, though I was sorely tempted. I was afraid that the driver would get out of his car and come and reprimand me. Perhaps Forks was the kind of place where there was an unspoken rule where people didn't honk their horns. Either way, I just sat there in my seat, fuming.

When I finally reached the hardware store, I was running behind schedule. It took me longer than I thought it would to pick out paint. I stood in the isle in the store, examining swatches of different colours. Eventually I settled on one tin of bright yellow paint, and one tin of blue paint. The gawky teenager from behind the counter who mumbled a hello to me was kind enough to run around the store gathering all the other items on my father's list. He even helped me carry my supplies out to Hazel's car and load them into the truck.

"Thanks," I told him, smiling as best as I could before I got into my car and drove away.

At home, I was tasked with the job of carrying all of the items into the house on my own. And some of them were damn heavy. And pointy. And sharp. I was just struggling to balance a hammer on top of a tin of paint when I almost jumped out of my skin.

"Do you need some help?"

It wasn't a voice that I recognised. I spun around quickly enough to drop the hammer on my foot. I yelped, but then I realised who was standing behind me and I yelped again. It was that man again. The one I had gotten a brief look at when he'd bowled me over at three am. Except this time he was fully clothed, his broad chest covered in a plain black t-shirt and a hooded sweatshirt. And I couldn't help but absently notice how damn hot he was. He was like the kind of guy you'd see in magazines modelling underwear and shampoo and other things that he would make look amazing.

"Eek!" I squealed. He sort of looked amused at my predicament. He smiled a little. "How did you find me?"

"I was actually just dropping my mom off next door," - he paused to gesture to the house about fifty feet down the road from our own - "and I saw you unpacking your car. I thought I'd come and apologise for scaring you last night."

"Well, that's-" a perfectly reasonable explanation. I couldn't deny the fact that there didn't seem to be anything suspicious about that. After all, it wouldn't take a genius to work out where someone lived in this town. Especially when everyone knew everyone and their business. I was obviously a new face. They had probably already had a town meeting about us or something equally as daft.

"Between you and me," the man carried on, "I think my mom's dating the chief." He made a disgusted face at me, his eyes darting over to linger on the other house. "Have you met Chief Swan?"

I shook my head. How was he being so... casual about this? He had scared me witless and now he was standing in front of me in broad daylight, discussing his mother's relationship status.

"Have you checked their relationship statuses on Facebook?" I asked pertly, raising my eyebrows at the man.

The man stared at me for a moment, scrunching up his nose. "There's a disturbing thought." He shook his head, as if attempting to remove said disturbing thoughts from his mind. In stead, he reached forward with one hand and held his palm out to me. "I'm Seth Clearwater. It's good to meet you."

I didn't shake his hand. And not just because my arms were loaded with stuff which I'd have to drop in order to shake his proffered hand.

"Aren't you a little... old to be introducing yourself to teenage girls? And, for that matter, running around half naked in the middle of the night?" I knew that it was rude before the words left my mouth, but I couldn't seem to help myself. After the scare this man had given me, I wasn't about to shake his hand and make nice with him. So what if I wanted to watch him squirm a little? When I told Lissa about this, I knew there would be many text messages pertaining to her amusement on the subject.

The man – Seth – just smiled at me and laughed. It wasn't beyond my notice that he did have a very nice smile. His white teeth contrasted so nicely with his dark skin. But the really startlingly handsome thing was the way his eyes sort of sparkled. The edges of his dark eyes – they almost looked to be black – crinkled up. I got the impression that he was the sort of person that smiled a lot.

"And aren't you a little young to be taking walks on your own at three o'clock in the morning?"

"Touché," I mumbled, having to admit that he had me there.

"Besides," he continued, "I'm not exactly too old to be fraternising with teenagers. I'm only eighteen myself. Though I can't really make my mind up on whether I'm too old to be running around half naked." He used one hand to pat his stomach lightly. "I think I still have the shape for it." And then. He winked. The son of a bitch_ winked _at me.

My mouth opened, but I had absolutely no idea what to say to that so I just snapped it shut again. I was gob-smacked, and for a variety of reasons. The first being that he was only eighteen years old, probably less than a year older than me. I scrutinised his face. There weren't any discernible lines or crow's feet. In fact, his skin seemed to be as smooth as a baby's bottom. The second reason for my speechlessness was the wink; what could he possibly have meant by that?

"So, I'll ask you again; would you like some help with those?" I looked at him blankly for a moment, and he smiled again and gestured to the supplies I was still holding in my arms. I felt like smacking myself in the forehead. Why had I suddenly gone all weird?

"Uh- sure!"

Seth stepped forward and began to unload some things from the trunk of Hazel's car. I left him to it, needing to escape quickly. I practically ran up the porch steps and into the house. I wasn't usually so put off by boys. I wasn't _that _girl; the kind that could barely utter a few words in front of a boy, let alone one I abhorred. Despite his half-assed but seemingly sincere apology and offer of help, I was not going to just forget that he was running around in the woods – the woods that supposedly contained wolves and bears and all manner of wild and dangerous creatures – half naked and in the middle of the night. That didn't sit well with me.

My dad came into the hall from the kitchen when he heard the clatter of me putting down the paint cans. He was wiping his hands on a cloth which he then slung over his shoulder.

"Did you have trouble finding the store, Honey?" he asked. "You were gone a long time."

"Not at all," I answered. "It's not like Forks is big enough to have trouble finding anything. I bet this is the kind of back-ass-ward place where you lose your keys and someone shows up at your house to return them."

"It's exactly that kind of place," Seth butted in with a smile, coming through the front door. He seemed to have the entire contents of the trunk in his arms – even the heavy planks of woods my father had requested for putting up some shelves – and he didn't seem to be struggling with the items at all.

My dad rubbed his hands on his jeans a couple of times as he regarded Seth. "Um, hello?"

I figured that I had better introduce Seth – who was only eighteen! - to my dad before he got rightly confused about the strange man-boy who had just walked into his house.

"Dad, this is Seth. He, um, was just visiting next door – did you know the chief of police lives next door to us, Dad?"

"I didn't, Honey." He raised his eyebrows at me. He was waiting for me to finish my explanation of why Seth – a perfect stranger – was in our house.

"Yes, Sir, I was just visiting next door; dropping my mom off really, and I saw... your daughter unloading some heavy stuff from the car," Seth explained smoothly to my dad. I was glad that he left out the part about our chance meeting before sunrise. Now that Seth seemed to be a perfectly normal-ish and amicable teenage boy, any thoughts I had of telling my dad of my scary middle-of-the-night experience seemed counterproductive. It would just make him angry.

Seth looked at me. "This is also the kind of place where people like to lend a hand."

My dad nodded, but didn't smile. "Oh, well, that was very nice of you, Mr..." He raised his eyebrows in question.

Seth chuckled and sighed. "Why does everyone think I'm so old? I'm only eighteen, Sir, and I'm pretty sure that's a bit young to be addressed as mister anything. My name is Seth Clearwater."

My dad looked as surprised as I had been to hear of Seth's age. "Eighteen?" he repeated. "You do look a good deal older, son." This time he smiled at Seth. Now that he knew he wasn't a grown man, and just a local teenage boy trying to be neighbourly, things didn't seem so bad, I supposed. "I'm Doctor Rowan Bishop." He and Seth shook hands.

Since my dad seemed to approve of this fully clothed teenage boy – I wager he wouldn't have approved of him had he been in my position the night before – it didn't seem like such a terrible idea to introduce myself also.

"I'm Ellody," I announced, my voice squeakier than I would have liked. I held out my hand towards Seth.

"It's nice to meet you, Ellody." He took my hand in his large one -skin to skin – and smiled brightly at me.

And I got shivers.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Okay, so I know it's a bit long and a lot of it doesn't even have a certain wolf-boy in it. But as you can see, now Ellody and Seth are on a first name basis, which I like to think is quite something. Also, I think it's important to get to know Ellody's family a bit. I really think it will serve us well to better understand her own character.

Anyway, thoughts?


	3. The Sand Between My Toes

**Chapter Three**

**The Sand Between My Toes**

We spent the rest of the day after Seth left – which thankfully wasn't too long after his arrival – finishing our assigned tasks. I definitely thought that Hazel had easier tasks that I did. She had to do things like organise the bathroom cabinet and unpacking boxes of books onto the bookshelves that Dad had set up in the sitting room. I, on the other hand, was given lovely tasks like disinfecting the toilet and running the shower for five minutes to make sure that none of us would get legionnaires when we took a shower.

I did, however, manage to convince my dad to let me finish early so that I could get to painting my room. He said that he would put up some shelves for me when my room was done.

"Really? You're going to go for yellow and blue?" Hazel asked condescendingly, popping her head into my room as I poured some blue paint into a tray. Her hair was now tied up into a loose bun on the top of her head, but I could still see that the little curls around her face were matted in sweat.

"Yes, Hazel," I answered tiredly. "My room's going to be like a beach." Hazel always thought that she knew better than everybody. Often-times we didn't really get on because of this. But since she had left for college, we had been getting on a lot better. That being said, she had been living with us for the whole Summer, and we were both wearing on each others' nerves. I was sure we'd be able to speak to each other without my wanting to rip her head off once she wasn't around all the time. I might even miss her a little.

"Well, it's your room," she muttered before flouncing off.

I had already covered the few pieces of furniture that were in my room with clothes, and I had moved all of my boxes in the hallway, much to Hazel's annoyance. I decided to paint two of my four walls yellow, and two blue. And then I was planning to paint the sloped part of the ceiling blue as well, since it corresponded to a blue wall.

I was just beginning to roll the first coat of blue paint onto one of my walls when my cell phone began to ring. Seeing that it was Lissa, I put it on speaker phone and set the phone down on the covered bed.

"What's happening, girl?" Lissa practically screamed into the phone, making me laugh slightly. One thing Lissa could always be counted on for was being lively. I don't think she'd ever had a dull day.

"Hey," I practically sang, remembering to speak loudly so that she'd be able to hear me. I went back to painting my wall. "I'm just painting my new room."

"Ooh! What colour?"

"Colours, don't you mean? I'm painting two walls yellow and the other two blue." I smiled as I spoke. I was excited to see how my room would turn out.

"Like a beach?" Lissa asked. Ah, I knew that she would get it.

"Exactly! Hazel was all condescending like, 'Mm, yeah, no, I personally could do it so much better'," I bitched.

"Ah," Lissa laughed. She was used to my bitching about Hazel. According to her, it's what sisters did. I wouldn't have trusted that as a fact though, considering she had no sisters to speak of. She had grown up in a house full of boys, with three older brothers and one younger. She was the apple of her mother's eye. Hers was the kind of mother that always wanted to go shopping and buy clothes for her. "So, did you tell your dad about the... the- _guy_? I'm not really sure what to call him?"

I groaned. "Call him Seth. He visited today."

"_What?_" She sounded shocked.

"Yeah. Just showed up out of the blue like, 'Hey, my mom's dating the next door neighbour. Let's be friends.' It was all very civilised, you know?"

"He said that? In those words?" Lissa asked sceptically.

I laughed. "Well, no. Maybe not in those exact words, but the sentiment was similar. It was damn creepy. And then my dad was getting all chummy with him when he found out that he was only eighteen and not some creepy guy scamming on his baby."

I could hear Lissa laughing. She had an unfortunate sort of laugh where she genuinely ended up snorting. "So, I'm confused. Does your dad know, or not?"

"Absolutely not! Do you realise how mad he'd be?"

"Pftt. Rowan's a teddy bear," Lissa told me matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, such a teddy bear," I scoffed sarcastically. I leaned down to re-coat my roller in paint. "I asked him about you coming to visit this morning and he basically said not until Fall break?"

"_What?_" Lissa sounded appalled. "Does he not realise how long away that is? Is he insane?"

I giggled. "He knows exactly how long it is until then. He wants me to _concentrate on my studies. _Lissa, I think you might be a bad influence."

"Oh my. I think Rowan and I are going to be having some _serious _words," Lissa joked. "This may even call for hand gestures, Ell. Hand gestures!"

Lissa and I continued to talk for a little while. She relayed to me how much she was missing me already, and how she had been forced to go for smoothies on her own with Madison and had almost died of boredom. Madison was a girl we had both known since middle school. We had made the mistake of trying to befriend her because she seemed to be a bit lacking on the friends side of things. We had never been able to escape her since. Lissa joked that she was annoyed that I'd left her to deal with Madison on her own.

When my dad knocked lightly on my open door though, I told Lissa that I'd talk to her later before hanging up.

"Making progress, I see," my dad said, examining my work. The wall in front of me was currently half ugly-cream and half calm-blue.

My dad smiled fondly at me and cocked his head to the side like he was trying to remember something. If I knew my dad, it wouldn't be long before he remembered. His brain, I imagined was organised much like everything else in his life: precisely.

"You're very like your mother, you know," he suddenly said, startling me. Dad didn't often talk about our mother. I think that ever though they were separated for quite a while before she died – she even had a boyfriend – he still loved her in a certain way. Maybe it was just because she was the mother of his children, but anyone could tell that her death had effected him. I think it hurt him to talk about her in the past tense, owning the truth of her death. I knew how that felt.

I shook my head at him. "Nah," I denied sadly. "Hazel's got more of Mom in her than I do. I'm like you."

Dad smiled but shook his head. "It's true that to the naked eye, Hazel is almost the spitting image of Kate. But I know my two girls pretty well. And what I know is that while Hazel may look like her mother; you, Ellody, are so like her it's sometimes a bit unnerving. I mean, look at this place; your mother would have been the exact same. She wouldn't have wanted to do all that other stuff. She would have wanted to come right in here and paint the place."

I almost cried. Ever since my mother had died, I'd been saddened by the notion that even though I'd loved her so much, I was nothing like her. Hazel seemed to have inherited everything that made my mother special. My father telling me that I reminded him of her meant so much.

"Hazel's a brilliant girl in her way. I reckon she's more like me, personality wise. You've got that same sort of air to you that your mom had," he carried on. "You've got that creativity and... that spirit."

Dad smiled slightly to himself and then at me. I had been angry at my dad for so many reasons and for so long, that it was a relief to let go of it. I stepped forward and hugged him. He kissed my forehead softly.

"I know that you're not happy about moving out here," he said, trying to gently broach the subject gently when I pulled away. "And I know you resent me for selling our apartment."

"It was Mom's apartment," I reminded him. I knew that it was hardly fair to cut him out of that. After all, it had also been his apartment. He and Mom had bought it together, and moved in there together as newly-weds. "What I mean is, it was where Mom was. If there's anything left of her, it's in that apartment... And we just... left it."

Dad raised his eyebrows at me and gave me a sad look. "You know I don't believe in any of that stuff. Spirits and whatnot. But I will say one thing; wouldn't your mother have been thrilled to move all the way out to the coast, and right on top of a Native American reservation, no less?"

I nodded reluctantly. I could see my mom's animated face in my mind, regaling to me the kinds of adventures we would go on down here. "She would have loved this place."

"Ain't that the truth."

"She would have kept the apartment though. She would have gotten claustrophobic if she had to stay in a place like this all the time. She would have kept it so that she could have gone to stay in the city... as a sort of outlet."

Dad nodded slowly. "Maybe." He paused. I imagined we were both flipping through memories of my late mother; the best and the worst. "Tell you what; how about we go down to that reservation – La Push? – tomorrow and check out those beaches before your sister leaves?"

I smiled. That did sound good. It had been quite a while since I had last visited a beach and it was something that I always enjoyed since I was a little girl. In fact, now that I thought on it, it was something my mother and I had shared. We had both loved going to the seaside.

"That sounds good," I told my dad, smiling. He was making an effort to make this easier on me. The least I could do was make an effort too. As Lissa said, once Hazel left, it was just going to be the two of us in this house. Things would suck if we didn't get along.

* * *

I spent all of the next morning working my way to the end of my list of tasks with an aching back. I had decided to sleep on the couch, because the paint in my room was still wet and I didn't want to be breathing the fumes in. My dad had assured me that it was perfectly safe and that I was just being paranoid, but realised there was nothing he could do to stop me from sleeping in the sitting room.

Needless to say, I regretted it now.

But I was refusing to let it get me down. After lunch, Dad had promised me a trip to the beach and I wasn't about to pass on that offer due to a back ache. That would be the very personification of cutting off my nose to spite my face.

And sure enough, after lunch, we all bundled into Dad's car and headed over to La Push.

"It's not exactly beach weather," Hazel pointed out as we got out of the car in the parking lot of one of the beaches. I could hear the ocean and found myself almost bouncing up and down in excitement.

"Lighten up, Haze," I told my sister. "At least it's not raining."

It wasn't raining, but the sky was a sort of murky grey colour and hardly any sun was shining through the thick cloud coverage. It wasn't exactly warm either.

For once, Dad sided with me. "Ellody's right, Sweetheart. Let's just enjoy ourselves." Dad hauled a rucksack out of the trunk of the car, because of course he'd brought sandwiches and a flask of tea. He was such an organised man, that sometimes it was unsettling. To give the message a little more emphasis, I stuck my tongue out at my sister. She gave me the finger and told me I was a brat.

The beach was pretty empty. Besides us, there were a few people here and there walking their dogs and such things, and one group of about ten people sprawled across a patch of sheltered sand bordered by the rocks at one end of the beach. Close by them some boys were playing some sort of ball game. There was lots of howling and yelling.

The beach itself was quite beautiful. There were large rocks at one end, high enough that I'd probably be too scared to climb them. I wasn't able to see the other end of the beach. It ran along the coast a ways, bordered by nothing other than trees and some smaller rocks. For once, I didn't mind the presence of all those trees. They gave the beach a sort of balance.

Hazel picked our spot, and Dad laid down a blanket that he pulled conveniently out of his rucksack. They both settled down on the blanket. Dad poured himself a little plastic cup of tea and opened up a book. Hazel lay down on her stomach and pulled her iPad out of her purse.

"Seriously?" I asked indignantly. "We're at a beach and you two are just going to sit here and do exactly what you do when we're at home?" I had no intention of sitting down an opening up a book. I was here to do beach activities! I wanted to make sand castles and go chasing waves and bury my dad in the sand.

Hazel looked up from her iPad. "I have some revision to do," was all she said before getting back to it.

"I've been looking for some time to sit down and have a read for a while, Honey," my dad told me, smiling a little. He averted his gaze back down to his page.

I shook my head in disbelief. Never had I imagined that my family were so boring. "Unbelievable!" I muttered. Unwilling to let them set the mood for this outing, I kicked off my tennis shoes and pulled off my socks before turning my back on my sister and my dad and walking towards the ocean.

When I got there, I stood at the edge of the water, curling my toes in the sand. I probably looked some kind of crazy, because I stood grinning down at the water that lapped across my toes. I had to admit that it was a little colder than I had expected. I wasn't here to go swimming though, not with all of these people around at least. It had been a while since I'd willingly stripped down to my swimsuit in front of people. I was just too self-conscious to do that kind of thing any more.

"Cold?"

I jumped, splashing myself with cold, salty water. I shouldn't have been surprised, since the culprit was someone who seemed to have a habit of sneaking up on me and scaring me half to death.

It was Seth Clearwater, in all of his half naked glory once again.

"Don't you own clothes?" I asked him snidely by way of greeting. He seemed to be popping up all over the place.

Seth smirked at me and deliberately used his right hand to scratch his chest, drawing my eyes there. I couldn't help but admire his sculpted muscles that rippled slightly when he moved.

"Oh, I think you know I do, Ellody." What was it about his voice that made my name sound so good?

"Um- So why don't you wear a shirt?"

Seth cocked his head at me, and smiled that angelic smile. "Because this is the beach, and man cannot be expected to wear clothes at the beach."

"Yes, man can. Most of the other people here are wearing shirts," I pointed out, looking around. "I'm wearing a shirt." I tugged on the material of my own shirt.

Seth smirked at me again. It wasn't the same as the thousand watt smile he used to charm my dad. It was more of devious smirk, like he knew he was about to do something that might not be approved of in polite company. "Well, I must say Ellody, your wearing of a shirt is a little disappointing." My eyes widened. Had he really just said that? "I wouldn't object if you wanted to also go topless. We could match."

"Excuse me?" Okay, so maybe I was a little flattered. It wasn't every day that a guy as good looking as Seth walked up to me, let alone to say that he was disappointed that I wasn't topless. If any other boy had said that to me, I would have been rightfully angry, probably. But I couldn't find it in myself to be angry at Seth for it. In fact, I could see the funny side of it.

Seth winked at me again before abruptly changing the subject. "So, are you settling in to your new house okay?" He seemed to have a genuine interest.

I shrugged, looking at my feet. "I guess," I mumbled. "I mean, it's nice and all. But I'd still rather be back in Seattle."

"Is that where you're from?" he asked.

I looked at his feet this time. They were much larger than mine, and somehow much more graceful too. "Yeah. Born and bred."

Seth chuckled. "Well, I was born and bred right here in La Push. Believe me, there are worse places to be, you know." He bumped my hip with his.

Well, I suppose that he probably meant to bump my hip with his, but on account of my being small and him being practically gigantic, he actually bumped my stomach. I didn't mind so much though. It was a friendly gesture and despite the creepy way in which we had met, I appreciated his company at that moment.

"Yeah, probably. I mean, there are probably towns _like _Forks, but where people _don't _return your keys," I exclaimed, referencing the conversation I had been having with my dad earlier on that he had butted into.

"Surely there can't be!" Seth looked at me, his eyes wide like he was truly horrified by the notion.

I nodded gravely and whispered, "I've heard stories of such cursed places."

"Well, praise the lord for the kind spirited folk of Forks then," Seth said in a phony southern accent. I laughed, and this time I bumped his thigh with my hip. We both grinned at each other. "So, you here with your family?"

I nodded and gestured to their position further up the beach. Seth followed my hand before looking back at me. "The girl there is my sister Hazel. She's studying. They're both refusing to partake in any beach activities because they have other stuff to do." I made a face, showing Seth just what I thought of their feeble excuses.

"What kind of beach activities?" Seth asked curiously.

"Sand castling, or burying someone alive or... swimming or something."

Suddenly, Seth grabbed me by the shoulders – both firmly and gently – and turned me around so that I was facing him. He looked me straight in the eyes, and I couldn't help but get a little lost in his soft gaze.

"Ellody Bishop-"

"Shaw-Bishop," I corrected him. Both Hazel and I had both of our parents' last names.

"Ellody Shaw-Bishop," he corrected himself without pausing, "will you do me the honour of building a sand castle with me?" He kept staring me straight in the face. His own handsome face was completely straight, like he couldn't find a single funny thing about his request.

I grinned. "Only if I get to be the boss."

Seth considered for a moment before smirking at me again. "Well, I do like an assertive woman." And then he let go of my shoulders and spun around, walking away from me.

I jogged a little to catch up with him, speechless. His legs were a lot longer than mine, and for every one of his steps, I found it necessary to take two in order to keep in line with him. We seemed to be heading for the larger group of people who were sitting by the rocks. I was assuming they were his friends.

We came upon them quickly, stopping in front of another very large man who was playing with a young girl of maybe five or six. They were sorting through a large pile of pebbles they had collected. I couldn't make out any sort of system, but they both seemed to understand the importance of what they were doing.

"Claire," Seth addressed the little girl. Both she and the other man looked up at us. The man smiled.

"Hey, Seth." His eyes flicked to me. "Is this-"

"This is Ellody," Seth introduced me. "But we don't have time for introductions, Quil! I have some serious business to see to with Claire."

Claire's face almost split in half with a smile. She got to her feet and crossed her skinny arms across her chest, staring up at Seth.

"What can I do for you, Seth?"

"Claire, this is a matter of some importance," Seth began. He put a hand on my arm and dragged me forward a little so that Claire's attention became fixed on me. "We require some supplies."

"Supplies?" Claire asked, looking very curious indeed. It was sort of endearing how good Seth was being with Claire. She seemed to like him a lot, and I got the feeling that she liked to be treated like a grown up.

"We need buckets and spades," Seth told Claire. "Do you think you can help us out?"

Claire pretended to consider Seth's request for a few seconds. "What do I get?"

At this point, the man named Quil got up from the ground and came around to face me. He stuck his hand out and smiled at me. He wasn't as handsome as Seth by any means, but he was of a similar build, curiously. I would have thought that Seth's height and physique were something of an oddity, but looking around I realised that all of the other men in group were similarly built. Maybe there was something in the water in La Push.

"I'm Quil," he introduced himself.

I took his hand, and was surprised by how warm his skin was. It was like the kind of heat you get on a cold night when you've been resting your hands against a radiator.

"Ellody," I told him shyly, smiling.

He shook my hand once before letting it drop. He scrutinised me a little. "So, you're the one who ran away screaming? Can't say that's every happened before."

I blushed hideously. I couldn't believe that Seth had told Quil about that! I mean, sure, I had told Lissa, but I was scared and had been on the phone to her at the time of the vent. What was Seth's excuse? I glanced at Seth, who was now on his knees haggling with the six year old.

"Ugh, Quil, way to be a chump," someone else said. Another man appeared behind Quil's shoulder, this one even larger than Seth. He smiled kindly at me. "I'm Jacob." I shook his hand too. I noted that he also had very warm skin, but didn't say anything.

"Nice to meet you," I squeaked. I hadn't been expecting to be introduced to so many people at once... let alone seriously hot guys who were all smiles and friendliness. Usually hot guys wouldn't look twice at me; they would just pass on by and go for the likes of Fey Sutcliffe. Fey had been the 'it' girl at my old school in Seattle. Another person that Lissa was going to have to deal with on her own now that I was stuck down here in Forks.

Seth stood up again just as Claire grabbed Quil's hand and made him bend down so that she could talk to him quietly. He turned to me and smiled.

"Claire has agreed to procure some tools for us," he told me matter-of-factly, like it was completely normal. I laughed.

Quil and Claire suddenly took off towards the parking lot.

"We're going sand castling," Seth declared to Jacob who raised his eyebrows and nodded.

"Well, you guys have fun with that," Jacob laughed, thumping Seth on the back. It looked like he did it a little harder than necessary and I wondered if it hurt. Seth just laughed good naturedly and returned that favour in kind. "There might be some food left over when you're done... if you're lucky."

Seth's eyes widened and he looked over at a picnic basket longingly. Then at me. Then back at the picnic basket. Then back at me. He pursed his lips. "Mom will feed me," he decided, making Jacob chuckle. "And you know she's a better cook than you."

"You monster, Jacob," I chimed in bravely. I hadn't said anything for a while and I was afraid they would forget I was there completely. Jacob looked at me curiously. I licked my lips and carried on. "To deprive Seth of vital sustenance is, well, monstrous. I mean, he's a growing boy!" I dared to reach out and flick Seth's finely toned stomach. "See? Scrawny." I ended my argument by shaking my head sadly.

Jacob grinned, and copied me. Except he didn't flick Seth's bare abs, he used the palm of his hand to slap them. Seth did flinch this time and rubbed his abs sadly. "Yes, scrawny," Jake confirmed, nodding sadly.

"Why do people have to go out of their way to make me feel bad about my body image?" Seth moaned. "I'm going to have to stop running around half naked. I feel _ugly_."

Jacob and I both laughed at this. It was ridiculous. Even a blind man would be forced to admit that Seth was a _beautiful _person. Even stood among a group of other hot guys with toned abs and pectorals and biceps and all that good stuff, he stood out as being exceptionally handsome. He even had that infamous 'V' shape around his hips, descending into his shorts...

I almost bit my tongue off trying to get my mind out of the gutter. These thoughts were hardly going to lead to anywhere good.

Before any of us could say anything more, Jacob got a soccer ball hurled at his head. Evidently his reflexes were top notch though, as he seemed to see it coming from the corner of his eyes and reached up and caught it. I knew that if it had been me, I would have ended up laid out on the ground rubbing my head and feeling sorry for myself.

There was a burst of laughter from the direction the ball had come from, and Jacob smiled quickly at me before dashing off, likely to seek revenge on his attempted attacker. Seth grinned at me.

"I still think you should take one for the team, and aid the shirtless cause," he told me, his eyes wide and completely innocent.

I blushed. "And what a noble cause," I joked. "Very classy. Classy with a K." Seth chuckled and shrugged, as if to say that it was worth a try. "Does that line ever actually work?" I was genuinely curious about this. I was curious to know if I was a run of the mill bimbo on a long list of bimbos that Seth Clearwater was keeping. The Bimbo List.

Seth laughed again. "Not as often as I'd like it to," he admitted. "But probably more often than you'd think." I raised my eyebrows at that. I didn't have any idea how often it would work. I didn't know the local girls and what they would be willing to do to get the attention of someone like Seth or his pals. "But, to be honest, I'd rather you didn't take off your shirt. It would probably reflect poorly on your character." He was looking a little more serious; a look I hadn't previously associated with Seth who seemed to always be jovial and smiling and laughing.

"Not to mention that my dad's sitting right up there," I gestured again to where my family was still lounged out on the blanket. "And I think it might make things a bit awkward between us, you know?"

Seth chuckled. "Maybe a little," he agreed, running a large hand through his glossy black hair. I had to urge to reach up with my own hand and smooth down his dishevelled hair. Instead, I put my hands together cracked my knuckled. I'd already had the audacity to touch Seth's abs; I wasn't going to start randomly feeling parts of him. That wasn't what good, respectable young ladies did.

Claire arrived back shortly carrying a single bucket. I was a bit sceptical of the kind of sand castle we would be able to build with just one bucket at first, but then my eyes were drawn to the figure behind her. It was Quil making his way down the beach laden with buckets, spades, plastic sand moulds and all kinds of other beach equipment. Claire stopped in front of me and held out the bucket proudly, presenting it to me.

"Oh, thank you, Claire." I smiled sweetly at her and she smiled right back. The bucket she had given me was bright pink and sparkly. She informed me in a whisper that it was her personal favourite bucket and that I could borrow it for the day, if I promised not to let anyone else use it. Seth looked offended, and Claire stuck her tongue out at him, making us both laugh.

"Us girls have to stick together," I told Seth seriously, shaking the bucket at him. "Besides, I'm the boss."

We collected the rest of the supplies from Quil before heading off again. This time Seth walked a bit slower, so that he could survey the ground as we went. He said he was looking for a prime sand castle foundation area.

"This is it," Seth announced when we stopped on a clear patch of sand. He dropped all of the plastic beach tools off to the side and then began to stomp on the patch of sand, smoothing it out. He looked very childish, stomping around the beach like that. It made me smile and he urged me to join in.

"So, out of curiosity, what makes this _the _spot for building on?" I asked him as we jumped up and down on the sand. The sand was damp, and my bare feet were already close to numb from it.

"Well, first, the view," he told me. I looked at him doubtfully. "We're building a castle, Ellody! Who lives in a castle?"

"Um... really rich people?"

"Kings and queens," he corrected me. "I think we're done laying the foundations. Anyway, kings and queens live in castles, and they'd appreciate a nice view of the ocean." He gestured out to the ocean which was lapping at the shore a little ways away, making me laugh. "Ah, this is no laughing matter, Ellody," he scolded me, which just made me laugh more.

"Okay," I said, trying to calm down. I knew that I was getting giddy, and that was not an attractive quality in a girl my age. "What's the second reason?"

Seth considered the question for a moment, before taking a hold of my forearm and turning me around so that were facing a nearby cluster of rocks. "Cover from the elements. It's very important that the kings and queens are destroyed by a hurricane."

I nodded, going along with this game. "How thoughtful of you. I would never have thought of this. I was definitely right to employ your services."

Seth grinned. "Thanks for saying so, Boss."

"But... what happens when the tides comes in?" I asked Seth.

He thought for a moment before grinning. "Well, in that case, we get an Atlantis type situation. There are even mer-people. And like, that magic forcefield thing that protects the castle."

"It will have to protect the lowly peasants too," I pointed out.

Seth nodded seriously. "Of course, Ellody. I am Seth Clearwater, protector of lowly peasant." He took up a hero's stance and I laughed again. He smiled at me and ran a hand through his hair. "But actually I chose this spot because it looks like there are less stones here."

And with that, we got to the building. It turned out, Seth was more of an expert on sand castles than I was so I let him take the lead. We ended up having a minor dispute over whether to build the draw-bridge across the mote out of wood or stone, but he let me win. We went for wood.

Things really took a turn for the bigger and better when Claire arrived along and declared that we were making a mockery of sand castling everywhere. This had Quil rolling his eyes and telling her not to be rude, much to mine and Seth's amusement. After that, Claire was in charge, and she reminded me of my father as she doled out tasks to each of us, including Quil.

We ended up with a sand-town a couple of feet in length, with all the little peasant huts clustered around the castle in the centre. All were enclosed within the safety of the city walls, which had only one exist: the draw bridge across the mote. Claire assured me that there were multiple underground escape tunnels in case of a vampire attack, which I thought was off. Vampire weren't the first threat I would be considering when assessing the risks of only having one entrance or exist to my sand castle town.

We were just standing back to admire our work – I myself was quite impressed – when someone put their foot through part of the city wall. I looked up in shock to see Hazel standing there, staring at the four of us.

"Hazel!" I hissed, pointing to her foot.

"Oh, shit, sorry," she apologised unenthusiastically. Beside me, Quil picked Claire up and she started whaling about how her sand castle had been destroyed. Quil was giving Hazel dirty looks.

"Hazel," I hissed again, looking meaningfully at Claire.

"Whoops," she mumbled. She seemed to be a bit more remorseful about having sworn in front of the child. "I'm sorry. Um, I just came to tell you that we're leaving soon, Ellody. I want to head back to Seattle before it gets too late."

I rolled my eyes at my sister. "All right. I'll be right there." She nodded and turned around, heading back over to my dad. He was in the process of refolding the blanket so that it would fit neatly back into his rucksack.

I looked at Quil. "I'm sorry about her," I apologised quickly. "She probably didn't even see Claire there."

Quil gave me the evil eyes before walking away with Claire still looking doleful on his hip.

Seth smiled at me. "Don't feel bad," he advised me. "Claire's heard much worse. She hands around with us a lot, and we all swear like sailors so it's not a big deal."

I reached up and tugged at my own hair. "Ugh, my sister is so annoying!"

Seth laughed. "I have a sister too. She's... well, she's something. You should meet her some time."

"Maybe," I said absently. "I have to go, anyway." Looking up at Seth I smiled. "Thanks for participating in a beach activity with me. It was fun."

"It was," he agreed. "Maybe next time we can do a different beach activity?"

I nodded. "I've almost forgiving you for scaring the shit out of me the other night." Seth laughed loudly, without restraint. "Almost. Anyway, I'll see you around?" If I were a more confident sort of girl, I might have asked him for his number or some way to contact him so that we might 'hang out' sometime.

"Yep." He popped the 'p'.

I turned to go, but he called me back after I'd taken a few steps.

"Listen..." he seemed to not know how to word what he was trying to say. "It's probably not the wisest idea to be going out on your own at night." He stared straight at me, and I had to admit that I was a bit boggled. Why would he care? "Forks may seem like it's all trees and friendly people, but it's still not completely one hundred percent safe."

I didn't really know what to say to that. It was like he was trying to say something without actually saying it. "Um, okay. I won't go for any night time walks on my own."

"Good. See you later, Ellody."

I walked away, heading towards my dad and my sister, thinking that if I had more days like this, living here might not be so terrible after all.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Wow, so this was a long chapter! And I must say that I'm quite impressed with myself for my update speeds. Three updates in three days? Yes, good girl. So the story is around about 13,000 words now.

Some reviews would be nice. Feedback is a writer's sustenance.


	4. The Universally Popular Mr Seth

**Chapter Four**

**The Universally Popular Mr Seth Clearwater**

We said goodbye to Hazel shortly after we returned home from the beach. She was impatient to leave and ended up snapping at me for taking so long to leave the beach. My father was remarkably okay with her going back to Seattle on her own. There had been a long period of time at one stage where neither Hazel nor I were allowed to leave the house unsupervised. There had been a crime spree in Seattle, masses of people going missing and being murdered. It was horrendous. The brother of one of Hazel's friends had gone missing.

The next morning, Dad also left. He was starting his first shift at the hospital, and I was sure he probably got up at the crack of dawn in order to prepare himself for his new colleagues and patients.

When I got up at around ten am, I finished unpacking my room. My dad hadn't been best pleased that I hadn't completed the task on the first day, but I had insisted on postponing while I painted my room. I didn't want to be getting paint all over my things.

I was quite pleased with my room once I'd finished. My double bed – only slightly larger than a single bed – was clad in plain white covers and was pushed against one of the yellow walls with the window beside it. The hardwood floors really added to the cosy and homely feel of the place. I managed to put together my flat pack chest of drawers all by myself, and used the top of it to stand some pictures on. There was a couple of Lissa and I and various other friends over the years, and then some of the family. My favourite one was of just myself and my mother; I was looking up at her with wide, trusting eyes and she just smiled beautifully at the camera. I was glad that my dad thought I was like her.

I was just out of the shower when I heard a knock on the door. It seemed odd to have someone physically knock on the front door. I had lived in the same apartment in Seattle for my whole life, and the door was buzzer operated. A much safer system to be sure, but there was always someone stupid enough to let someone they didn't recognise in when they were coming or going. The idea was sound, but as with a lot of things, human nature mucked it up.

Being only in my towel, I frantically ran to my room, screaming, "Coming!" I didn't want the person to go away, because, curious person that I was, I wanted to know why somebody would be calling to my house.

In my room, I whipped open the newly constructed drawers in my dresser and pulled on a loose dress and some leggings. I had to forgo the bra for now, not wanting to take too long. I knew that I would regret this, considering I had the kind of breasts that didn't sit there prettily without constraint. No, they were the kind of of breasts that would flop about everywhere in a real ugly way. They needed to be constrained.

A few minutes later, I yanked the front door open, panting and haphazardly dressed with sopping wet hair dripping around my face.

It was Seth. He stood leaning against my door-jamb with that ever-present smile on his face, and once again fully clothed. God, he was so handsome. I found it odd that he was just turning up everywhere. I had encountered him every day since my arrival in Forks, somehow.

"Hey, Ellody."

"Um..." was what I said by way of greeting. I was too flustered and suddenly very self-conscious about my appearance. I crossed my arms across my chest in an attempt to hide the fact that I was braless. "I just got out of the shower," I mumbled by way of explanation.

Seth nodded, as if he had already figured that out. He pushed himself off of the door-jamb so that he was standing up "I'm here to deliver a message."

"Oh?" He had certainly piqued my interest. Who on earth did I know that was going to be sending Seth to deliver messages to me?

"Are you ready? Because I have to recite Claire's exact words," Seth told me. He stood up straight and put his shoulders back, linking his hands in front of him. I nodded, a smile beginning to form on my face. "Ellody, will you please come to my party today? I want you to come because you're cool – shut up, Seth, she's much cooler than you – and there's going to be cake."

I couldn't help but laugh at the way in which Seth had recited the message. "You're a dork, Seth."

Seth just smirked at me. "I must be hearing things. See, I heard you say that I'm a dork. But I _know _you'd never be so cruel. What you meant to say was, 'Seth, you are glorious and manly.' Do you see the subtle difference?" Seth pushed past me into the house, looking around a little. We had almost completely finished the process of moving in, which we had been right in the middle of during Seth's first and very short visit.

I snickered. "Of course that's what I meant!"

"Good."

I closed the door, not even bothering to chide Seth on having barged into my house without even asking permission to enter. I didn't think it would do much good. Seth and I hadn't been acquainted for very long, and I didn't know him very well, but I had come to learn that chiding was counterproductive.

"You kind of remind me of my friend, Lissa," I said, walked over to the bottom of the stairs with my arms still crossed across my chest.

"Because she's beautiful, stunning and manly too?" he asked cheekily.

"No, because she's annoying, stubborn and is like an energizer bunny on happy pills." I stuck my tongue out at Seth as he chuckled and cocked his head to the side.

"I'm taking that as a compliment," he warned me.

"Of course you are."

"Now, how about this party?" Seth asked, coming far too close to me. He leaned his two elbows on the bannister of the stair case and stared up at me with those beautiful brown eyes of his.

"Now?" I asked. Seth nodded. I looked down at myself, and Seth followed my gaze. "Yes, then. How can I resist little Claire? But I'm going to go upstairs and make myself presentable first."

"I think you look perfectly fine," Seth murmured smoothly, winking at me exaggeratedly.

I blushed, headed to go upstairs and flicked Seth's ear on the way past. "Dork."

I could hear him laughing as I went into my room and made sure to lock the door behind me. The last thing I needed was for Seth to come barging in only to catch me in the middle stages of getting dressed. I couldn't imagine anything more embarrassing.

The first thing I did was comb and dry my hair. It took a solid fifteen minutes due to the thickness of my hair, and it still didn't look right when it was done. If I had had more time I probably would have taken the curling iron to it, but I was acutely aware of a certain someone waiting for me downstairs.

I did however make time to put on a bra this time. I wasn't sure whether Seth had noticed my braless state or not. I could only hope that if he did, he didn't make a point of it. I could just delude myself into believing that he had no idea what was going on under my dress.

I found myself blushing at my own thoughts. I was pathetic.

Eventually I emerged downstairs in baggy sweater over a knee-length, flowing pink skirt, tights and boots. I had various pairs of high-heels which I had been tempted to don since I was going to be spending at least some of my day in the company of very tall people, but I had restrained myself because it seemed a bit extravagant for a child's party. I had, however, put on some make-up. It only hit me when I accidentally knocked over my make-up bag that every time I had seen Seth I had been make-up free. Usually, I would have been very aware of this, but it had never seemed like such a big deal with Seth.

Speaking of Seth; he was crouched down in front of the bookcase in the sitting room when I arrived down. I stood behind him for a moment, admiring the broad shape of his shoulders, his strong arm and back muscles... He was running one large finger over the spines of the books on one of the shelves, mouthing something to himself.

"Looking for something in particular?" I asked, approaching him.

He looked up at me calmly, as if he had known I was there all along, and smiled. He was always smiling. "Not really," he said in answer to my question. "It's just... Are these your books?" He gestured to a row of creased and bent novels on the second shelf up from the bottom of the case.

"No, they're my dad's," I told Seth.

That seemed to make Seth smile. "I figure. It's kind of comforting to look at them all lined up like this. My mom's sort of cleaned out our house a while back. But my dad used to have a collection of books just like this..." his voice trailed off and his eyes stayed fixed on the books for a while. I bit my lip.

"Your dad... he's..."

Seth looked up at me. He smile again, but a different sort of smile. The likes of which I had never seen on Seth's face before. It was sad and sorrowful and heartbreaking.

"He died almost four years ago," he told me gently.

Neither of us said anything for a moment.

"I'm sorry," I finally said, even thought it was about the last thing I really wanted to be saying. I hated when people told me how sorry they were that my mom had died. What they really meant was that they felt sorry for me, and for Hazel. "If you... ever want to like, talk about it... or blow off some pent up dad-related aggression, then.. I'm your girl." I tried to smile at him, but it fell flat. "My own mom... she died about three years ago. So you know, I get it."

Then Seth did something surprisingly. He reached up and took my hand in his. His skin was very warm – something that would usually have worried me – and his fingertips were calloused but the gesture was comforting. He didn't look at me while he was doing it, he just kept staring at the books. He gently squeezed my hand. As weird as it was, I understood what he was saying by squeezing my hand. We were teenagers after all; we weren't known for being able to express how we were feeling in any sort of sensible way. But this... this was something that Seth and I shared. It was almost like a secret; it was private and just between us.

As quickly as it had happened, it was over. And then Seth was on his feet and leading the way to the front door. I stopped to quickly scribble a note for my dad, letting him know where I was going and who with. I didn't bother to estimate as to what time I would be coming home, only letting him know that I had my cell-phone and he could call me.

Seth's car was a beat up old _Ford Bronco _with what looked to be mismatching doors. He seemed to be extremely proud of it though.

"I rebuilt the thing myself," he boasted as I slammed the passenger door for the third time, hoping that this time it would stay closed.

"Is it... safe?" I asked Seth, genuinely concerned for my well-being. If my door was going to fall off of the car halfway to La Push, I was not going to be a very happy person.

Seth fired up the ignition and looked at me. "_Safe _is an objective term..." I widened my eyes at him. What was he trying to say? "I'm kidding," he snickered. "It's perfectly safe to drive to La Push. Just, ah... make sure you buckle up."

Seth pulled away from the curb, laughing to himself like he was the funniest damn person in America. I just took a deep breath and clung onto my seat; apparently the state of his pride and joy wasn't enough to convince to even think about obeying the speed limit.

"Gah," I groaned when we skidded around a corner.

Seth glanced over at me, a stupid smirk still on his face. "What was that?"

I shook my head. "Nothing!"

Seth slowed down a little bit as we drove along a straight section of the road. Apparently the council wasn't too big on roadworks around here. All of the tarmac seemed to be riddled with potholes and dips and bumps. Even without Seth's psychotic driving, there was no way one would be able to achieve a 'smooth' ride around here.

"So, people don't drive like this is Seattle?" Seth asked, tapping his long fingers against his worn away steering wheel.

I shook my head frantically. "Not unless they want to _die_. Or get arrested." This only made Seth start to laugh again.

Seth Clearwater, by all my estimations, was a funny sort of boy. He was large and hot and polished and really the kind of guy I would expect to turn his nose up at me and never address me directly. If I was going to judge him based only on his looks, I would have guessed that his personality was similar; confident, superior and the type of person who would have high standards.

But after hanging out with Seth at the beach yesterday, and our short conversation in my house this morning, I had gained some insight into his character. He was so much better than I had expected him to be. He was still confident, but he had all these other great qualities too. He was quirky... and creative and funny. He had been telling me all about the kings and queens who lived in our sand castle and I had been surprised; I had never heard someone like him speak like that before. It was refreshing. And he also seemed to be a genuinely nice person.

But this still couldn't explain exactly why I felt so... at ease around him. I had just met him properly two days ago, and we already seemed to be friends. Usually I was a timid and shy girl – one of my worst qualities, if you asked me. I bumbled and stuttered and tripped over myself if I ever actually got up the courage to open my mouth and speak. I was terrified of starting my new school. Often-times, people mistook my shyness for me being snooty or stuck up.

For some reason, though, Seth and I just seemed to click, and he made me feel comfortable.

"Here we are," Seth announced, pulling me out of my reverie.

We rounded another corner in the road and came upon a little clearing with a single house situated in the middle of it. The house was small – only one storey – and quaint. The windows were decorated with all kinds of potted plants, many with bright vibrant flowers. The exterior walls of the little house were painted a bright and cheerful yellow, much like the yellow I had used to paint some of my room. There were many cars parked out front of the house.

Seth rolled the car to a stop and it was only then that I realised he hadn't been wearing his own seatbelt.

He turned to me as I unbuckled myself. "Listen," he said. "You're about to meet my cousin Emily; she's Claire's aunt. Anyway, a few years back, she was mauled by a bear and she has some pretty significant scarring... Anyway, it would just be cool if you didn't stare."

I stared at Seth. "Your cousin was the one from the bear attack?" He quirked his eyebrows. "I read about that."

"Oh, well..."

I shook my head. "I won't stare at her," I promised Seth. "I swear."

Seth smiled. "Good."

We both got out of the car and headed towards the front door of the house. I could hear music playing inside as well as loud voices and laughter.

"Is it Claire's birthday?" I asked.

Seth nodded. "She's six today."

He didn't bother knocking on the door, instead just pushing it open and entering the little house. I followed suit, pleased by the warm air we were greeted with inside. It was beginning to get chilly outside, despite the fact that it was still only the beginning of the Fall. I made sure to close the door softly behind me. I didn't think that anyone would appreciate if I let all the cold air into the wonderfully warm house.

Seth was immediately dragged away from me; an elderly woman who had been standing by the door having caught sight of him dragged him down into a large hug, wrapping her frail arms around his bulky shoulders and pressing a slobbery kiss to his cheek. Seth just smiled at the old woman. He was obviously a better person than I was; if such a thing had happened to me, I knew that I wouldn't have been able to stop myself from pulling away rudely with an impolite, "Ew!"

I watched Seth as he subtly tried to rub away the red smear the woman's lipstick had left on his skin. He seemed to be a hot commodity and was being passed from old woman to old woman, each of whom he smiled warmly at like he was truly pleased to see them.

It took me a minute to come out of my thoughts and stop staring at Seth to realise that someone was poking me in the side. I snapped my head to the side to catch the culprit only to see Jacob standing next to me. He seemed to be ever larger than he had been on the beach, now that he was crowded into the small house with all of these other people. In fact, the room was littered with insanely tall and bulky people taking part in the festivities. Though none of them seemed to be quite as large as Jacob.

"Um... hi?" I said to Jacob, furrowing my brows at him

He grinned. "Quite popular with the ladies, your Seth," he pointed out, waving his hand towards where Seth was still being fawned over.

_My _Seth? _Mine_? I was sure that it didn't mean anything but it did make my stomach do a strange little flip and a wave of something akin to nausea wash over me. Seth was hardly mine in any way, shape or form. Sure, he had been quite attentive to me since I had moved here; taken me under his wing to all intents and purposes... but I was sure he was just being a nice neighbour. A good person. A good friend.

I figured that the best thing to do about Jacob's unfortunate wording would be to ignore it. Not making a big deal of it was surely my best chance for survival in this situation.

"Uh, yeah, he sure is," I agreed, watching as Seth smiled charmingly at someone.

Next to me Jacob chuckled and nudged me gently in the side of my arm. Being next to someone like Jacob just emphasised how small I was; the top of my head wasn't even level with his shoulder. I felt like a mini person. Not only because of his physical height; but Jacob had this inexplicable force to his presence where it was hard not to be acutely aware of him.

"Well, here go the festivities."

* * *

It wasn't until an hour later that Seth made his way back to me. At first I had regretted coming; I felt out of place and like an intruder. It wasn't until a girl named Kim approached me and introduced herself as Kim, that I finally started to calm down. Kim was a plain looking girl but she had a nice demeanour and amazing eye lashes which I was instantly envious of. She seemed to read my uneasy thoughts.

"I remember what it was like," she told me, smiling. She slid a cup of soda into my hand as she talked. "The first time Jared brought me to a... gathering like this I was _so _nervous. I felt like I was intruding on some family thing and he'd just been stupid to bring me along."

I half smiled at Kim in response, slowly sipping my soda. She paused to smile across the room at someone before turning back to me.

"I actually tore into Jared afterwards for being so stupid," she confided in me, smiling to herself. I thought about asking who the hell Jared was, but I thought it was safe to assume that it was another one of Seth's larger than life friends. I had a feeling that I'd seen Kim at the beach the day before too. "But the thing is, practically everybody in this room wouldn't even bat an eyelid if you turned up at their house for Sunday dinner without an invitation. It takes a while to get used to, but we're that sort of community. Like one big old dysfunctional family."

After that, Kim dragged me through the house and out through the back door. Apparently that was where all the cool people were hanging out. There was a little group of people – mostly huge guys – sprawled out on deck chairs and on the grass in the back yard of the little house. Just like everything else in this godforsaken place, the backyard was framed with a dense tree line.

"Everybody, this is Ellody," Kim announced to the little group as we arrived in front of them. She threw herself none too softly down on one of the men's laps, patting his chest soothingly when he grunted. I assumed that that must have been Jared. "Seth's... friend."

I blushed as all of the eyes in the little group were on me, sizing me up. I raised my hand a gave them all a timid little wave, "Hi!" I squeaked in a small voice, internally kicking myself for being such a shy person.

"Ellody..." one of the boys who was sprawled out on the grass said, scratching his chin. "Isn't that a plant?"

I bit my lip as he looked up at me, his face curious. "Uh- no. That's _elodea. _It's kind of a pond plant."

"Oh."

The boy who was sitting next to him snickered and raised a leg to kick him in the side of the head. "Man, why are you _so _dumb, Colin?"

The first boy – Colin – barely flinched from the foot in the side of the head, instead lunging back at the other boy so quickly that I could barely keep track of his movements. There was joyful laughter coming from each of them as they brawled on the lawn.

"Well, you've met Colin and the violent one, Brady," Kim told me, rolling her eyes at the two boys as they continued to tussle. "This here is the bane of my existence, Jared."

The man underneath Kim raised his eyebrows at her like he didn't believe what she had just said for a second.

Kim grinned. "He's also my fiancé." She giggled girlishly when Jared buried his face in her neck and proceeded to lay a few kisses there. "And th-that," Kim continued, trying to calm herself, "is Embry."

The last boy looked up from the screen of his phone to smile briefly at me before looking back down at it. His fingers were moving over the touch-screen of his phone with alarming speed and what seemed to be complete accuracy.

The boys' brawl seemed to escalating as they landed at me feet, both throwing punches at the other's face. I stepped back, trying to avoid having to take an active part in the fight, only to back up into what I thought was a wall. When the wall lay two hot hands on my shoulders and steadied me, however, I turned quickly around to see what was going on.

Seth stood towering above me, looking distinctly amused at the scene playing out in front of him. He removed one hand from my left shoulder and stepped forward so that he was standing beside me. It didn't escape my notice however, that his right hand stayed where it was, lightly grasping my right shoulder. Even through the material of my shirt and sweater, I could feel the what must have been unnatural heat of Seth's palm soaking into my skin. Despite the initial shock of the contact, I couldn't help but find it comforting.

"I see you've met the gang," Seth said, laughing slightly as he whipped out a foot to redirect the brawl as it came too close to our feet again.

Before I could say anything, a tall woman wearing denim shorts and a loose t-shirt strode up to where Colin and Brady were still trying to get each other to cry 'uncle' and in a few lightning speed moves, she had caught both of the boys by the backs of their necks and was holding them with their faces in the grass.

"I win," she announced slyly before letting each of them go.

The girl straightened up gracefully before fixing her hard gaze on Seth and I. I was suddenly struck by the sheer and unrefined beauty she possessed. Her jaw line was strong and her lips plump, her nose and eyebrows straight, and her eyes dark and exotic. There didn't seem to be any trace of make-up on her face, and her glossy black hair was cut short, grazing her chin.

"Leah-" Seth began to say.

The girl didn't let him finish though. She came towards us, three long strides bringing her to a stop close in front of me. She looked into my face intently, curiously, as if she was looking for something in particular. I half expected her to grab my chin and turn my head this way and then that way, like they always did in these sorts of scenes in the movies.

After a couple of seconds however, the girl took a step back, seeming satisfied with whatever she had discovered about me.

"Well, I guess she'll do," she finally said, her eyes on Seth this time.

I furrowed my brows, glancing between her face and up at Seth – which really involved me craning my neck considering he was standing so close and he was so tall.

"Um, I'll do?" I asked quietly. I cleared my throat in an attempt to make my voice louder. "For what?" Suddenly my mind was filled with questions. Who was this girl? Why was she sizing me up like she was? What was it about me that made her think I would 'do'? What was it about me that made her believe that I would just 'do' and not be perfect? And do for what?

Seth kind of choked on a short laugh before clearing his own throat and speaking. "Ah... you always gotta make an entrance, don't you, Leah?" The girl shrugged, one side of her mouth lifting in something of a grin. Seth spoke to me this time. "Ellody, this is my sister, Leah. My older sister, and she's very... judgemental about who I should be friends with."

Leah snorted. "Yeah, that's it."

Seth rolled his eyes at her, but it wasn't him who spoke next. Jacob came stumbling out of the house by my side.

"Why don't you give it a rest, Leah?" he said in a bored tone. I got the feeling that he had conversations like this often enough. It was like he was repeating something he said a lot, and it had lost all its true meaning.

Leah shook her head in bemusement. "Why don't you bite me, Jacob Black?" She emphasised her comment by snapping her teeth at the taller man.

Next to me, Seth groaned. "This again?" He rubbed one hand over his head, making his black hair stand up every which way. "There's only so much sexual tension I can endure between you two. It's kind of gross."

Leah gave her little brother her best finger, but her concentration was elsewhere as Jacob laughed and advanced on her.

"Oh, I don't know, Seth," Colin piped up. "I find the sexual tension between Leah and Jake something to look forward to. Don't you, Brade?"

Next to him, Brady nodded emphatically. "Spices things up a bit."

"Exactly," Colin agreed.

Seth seemed to consider this for a moment before chuckling to himself. "You're gonna find it even more exciting when you two are running doubles this weekend."

Colin and Brady's heads snapped towards Seth in unison, their handsome faces contorting in shock. "What?" Brady whined. "I've got dates."

"Dates?" I asked with an unintentional snort, earning a chuckle from Seth.

"Well, not any more," Seth told the two younger boys without remorse.

As the rest of the afternoon past by, I noticed more and more the strange dynamic that Seth had with his friends. I had worked out that he was younger than most all of them apart from Colin and Brady, but despite this, they all seemed to listen to him when he spoke. Nobody ever spoke over him like they did with each other. It was the same with Jacob. Both he and Seth seemed to have this presence; people noticed them and paid heed to them. Apart from Leah. She seemed to just do as she pleased, whether it annoyed Seth or Jacob or not. In fact, the more something seemed to annoy either of them, the more she seemed to relish doing it.

I didn't stay for the entire party. As the afternoon began to wear into the evening, and the festivities were getting more... festive for the adults due to the common agreement between them that four o'clock was an okay time to start drinking, Seth's large hand found my wrist and he guided me out of the house, through the front door this time.

"Have fun?" he asked as he closed the front door of Emily's house behind us. I had yet to actually meet Emily, though I had seen her rushing around the house with plates full of baked goods with a determined look on her marred face.

I nodded at Seth as we walked side by side towards his car. "Tonnes," I told him. He smiled at me. "Did you?"

Seth grinned. "I always have fun, babe. I'm Mister Fun."

I snickered and shoved him slightly, to show him just how ridiculous he was. The shove I aimed his way backfired slightly though. Apparently, he was both very heavy and had a good centre of balance, as my shoving him just ended with my butt hitting the ground as I effectively pushed myself off of Seth.

"Huh," I muttered. "Not what I was intending."

Seth stood above me for a second, his eyes roaming over me to make sure I wasn't broken. Seemingly satisfied with his diagnostics, he threw his head back and laughed. He even went so far as to clutch his side, as if the laughter was just too much for him.

I scoffed as I lifted myself off of the damp ground and dusted myself off to the best of my abilities. I had to just accept that there was going to be a mud stain on the back of my skirt for the rest of the day.

"Yeah, you just keep yukking it up," I told Seth sarcastically. "I'll try not to be so damn funny next time."

Seth's laughter eventually faded and he took a deep breath and grabbed a hold of my both of my shoulders gently, so that he could look me in the face. His dark brown eyes bored into mine for a couple of seconds in an intense sort of way. Usually, being the shy girl that I was, I would have tried to look away. Tried to look down, or anywhere else. But I couldn't find it in myself to avert my eyes from Seth Clearwater's intense gaze.

And then he spoke. "Always be this funny," he told me, no hint of laughter in his voice. "Always be exactly the way you are."

Nobody by my parents had ever said anything like that to me. And when it was coming from my own parents, it was hard to believe them because it was part of their job to try and make me feel comfortable in my own skin. But it was a whole different story when it was coming from Seth; a boy I barely knew but felt inexplicably connected to.

Just as soon as it had begun, it was over. Seth suddenly broke away from me and continued walking towards his car, swinging his key chain around one of his fingers. It took me a moment to snap out of my surprised reverie and follow him.

The drive back to Forks was much the same as the drive out had been; crazy and filled with Seth's maniacal laughter and my groaning and clutching the edges of my seat and praying that my door wouldn't fall off.

"You. Are a lunatic," I told Seth breathlessly as we finally came to a stop outside of my house. A glance out of the window revealed to me that my dad was not yet home, the muddy driveway empty except from the empty trailer we had used to cart some of our things down here from Seattle.

Seth smiled at me as he turned off the ignition. "I try my best."

"So..." I unbuckled my seatbelt. I didn't know what the protocol in a situation like this was. Was I supposed to invite him inside or would they give him ideas I shouldn't be giving him? What did a boy hear when a girl invited them inside an empty house?

"So, so," Seth repeated, making a goofy face at me.

"So..." I took a deep breath and temporarily swallowed my fear of rejection. "So, do you own a phone, Seth Clearwater?" Seth's brow furrowed. I pulled my own phone out of my bag and waved it in front of his face. "You know, a cellular device which allows you to take phone calls wherever you are, and send text messages. You can use it so's you don't have to turn up and peoples' houses uninvited all the time." I smiled at him to make sure he knew that I was only joking.

Seth raised his eyebrows at me. "Yes, I have a cellular device capable of making phone calls."

"Brilliant."

"So... is this you asking for my number?" Seth asked coyly. "I have to admit, usually it's done with a little more finesse than this. Sometimes there's even cleavage on display to entice me..." Seth raised his eyebrows at me expectantly.

I playfully punched Seth in the arm, instantly regretting it as I heard my finger cracking from the pressure. Apparently Seth's biceps were made of concrete.

Seth gently grabbed my sore hand and stroked the knuckled gently. "That wasn't very clever."

I stuck my tongue out at him. "You're not very clever."

Seth grinned, looking up from my hand but not releasing it. "Mature." His hot fingers were still softly massaging my knuckles.

I rolled my eyes at him, knowing that I was never going to win this childish argument. Instead, I concentrated on the soothing feeling of Seth's fingers on my hand. It felt like this could be an intimate moment, but I refused to get ahead of myself. After all, this was Seth. I had only met him a few days ago and the likelihood of someone like him being interested in someone like me was... slim to none.

I pulled my hand away. "So, this phone number of yours?" I asked again.

Seth pulled a face at me, but reached out to take my phone. "This isn't how I normally do things," he reiterated, smiling dolefully. Nevertheless, his large fingers moved deftly over the screen on my phone and then he lifted it to take a photo of himself. He posed by pouting his lips and widening his eyes, making me laugh.

"And how do you normally do things?" I asked as he handed me back my phone. I slid it into my bag and zipped it up.

Seth grinned, "It usually goes something like this." He wriggled around for a moment, getting into character. He swiped a hand back ground his hair and pouted his lips again. He used one finger to hook the front of his t-shirt down to make a low cut v-neck, revealing a few dark curls of chest hair.

Seth leaned towards me and lay a hand on my arm, staring intently into my eyes and he licked his lower lip. "Hey there," he said in a high, girlish voice. He shook his head a little bit, like he was shaking his hair over his shoulders. "I was just wondering..." he pushed out his chest towards me dramatically, "... if I could have your number?"

I giggled, squashing myself back against the passenger door to get away from Seth. He had leaned in very close to me and this whole staring into my eyes and pretending to be a girl thing was just too much for me.

"Usually something along those lines," he told me and he straightened up, shrugging.

I grinned. "I did notice that you were very popular with the ladies," I teased him. "I didn't think you'd ever be able to get those lipstick stains off of your face!"

Seth pouted at me and put a hand to his chest. "I can't help it if I'm universally popular. It's not my fault."

I snickered before yanking at the handles on the passenger door and booting it a couple of times with my foot to make it open. Seth looked at me dolefully.

"You have to be gentle with my baby," he told me, dismayed. "She's fragile."

"Oh, so you're one of _those _guys?" I asked Seth playfully as I climbed out of the car, turning around to look at him. "You don't need a girl, because you've got your car, right?"

"Damn straight."

"You're a dork."

"You mean to say I'm glorious and manly?"

"No, you're a dork, Seth. I'll see you later."

"You will call me, right? I'm going to go and wait by the phone."

I slammed the car door shut, and headed up to the house with a spring in my step and a laugh in my throat and Seth's car roared to life again and departed.

* * *

**Author's Note**

So, I know I've been a bit shit with the updating of late, but... hey, we're up to like, 20,000 words now so yay! I didn't just want to jump into any romance straight away, so I'm trying to just build the foundations of something for Seth and Ellody. The next chapter should be coming to a computer near you soon enough.

Thanks to the people who reviewed - not many - but you're super special people!

So, how about some reviews up in this hizzie, yo?


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